Overview

Pineapple plants are fun to grow, and can easily be propagated from fruit bought from a supermarket or greengrocer. Although it's not guaranteed that you'll get a crop of home-grown pineapples, you may be in with a chance if you provide the right growing conditions. Be patient though - it can take three years for the plant to develop fruit.

Choose a pineapple with a healthy green rosette of leaves or topknot, then eat the fruit. Save the rosette, as you'll be using this to grow the plant from.

How to do it

1

Carefully cut the rosette off about 2cm from the top of the fruit, and eat the fruit.

2

Trim off all the fleshy fruit and cut around the base of the rosette to leave the clean central core surrounded by leaves.

3

Carefully peel away individual leaves to reveal a length of stem. This is where the roots will develop from.

4

Trim the base of the stem neatly, just below the leaf scars, removing all the white stem tissue.

5

Fill a pot with multi-purpose compost mixed with horticultural grit, then position the pineappe rosette in the centre, firming more compost around it.

6

Water well and allow the pot to drain. Place the pot in a heated propagator or in a warm, bright spot indoors, until roots have developed. New leaves will soon form in the centre of the rosette. Once roots start growing from the base of the pot, transplant your pineapple into a larger container. Keep the plant in a warm conservatory or greenhouse, or on a window sill, and continue feeding and watering regularly, potting on as required.

Many years ago I was told about growing pineapples, so I had a go! I used to slice off the rosette with a few centimeters of the pineapple attached. Then get a plant pot more or less the circumference of the pineapple piece I cut off, and filled it with compost to within a few centimeters of the top. Covered the compost with a thin layer of grit-sand then watered just enough to wet it - don't saturate the compost. I pushed the rosette firmly onto the compost and placed it on the kitchen windowsill. Hey presto, it rooted! So I potted it on. Many more followed!!
AneWon